Crime & Safety

Lightning Suspected in University City House Fire

The fire happened early Sunday in University City near Clayton and appears to have destroyed the home

University City house is "pretty much a total loss" after a two-alarm fire that appears to have been caused by lightning, the city's fire chief said Monday.

It happened early Sunday in the 8000 block of Lafon Place, Chief Don Miner of the  said. His department received notification of the fire at about 3:30 a.m.

No one was at home at the time of the fire, and the blaze was well underway before anyone knew it was burning, Miner said. 

Severe thunderstorms rolled through St. Louis on Saturday and Sunday nights. More bad weather is possible Monday night, the National Weather Service reported.

The  arrived on the scene first because University City personnel were in the process of responding to other calls. Chief Mark Thorp of the Clayton department could not immediately be reached for comment. 

It took between one and two hours to put out the fire. 

Howard DeMere lives in University City just a block away from where the house fire happened. 

"I was lying in bed and listening to the thunder and some severe snaps of lightning," said . 

As the rain and thunder subsided early Sunday, DeMere said, his wife came into the room to tell him there was a fire in progress down the street. 

DeMere said he thinks lightning started the fire because he's familiar with the time it takes for thunder to occur after a flash of lightning. The closer together they happen, the nearer the storm is. 

"They coincided, the thunder and the lightning," he said. 

He said the two-story house rises above other houses in the neighborhood. People can help safeguard their homes by using a lightning rod.

"They work very well because lightning strikes the highest spot," DeMere said. 

People who are out in the open during a lightning storm should lie down on the ground in the lowest spot available.


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